The Impact’s eSports player in good position after eMLS League Series One
Another year, another competitive season. In 2019, eMLS is taking it to the next level and has organized two regular season tournaments to spice up competition ahead of the eMLS Cup. The first of these tournaments took place in Los Angeles on Tuesday, at eSports Arena. I had a light schedule of at least 11 games, one against every player in the Eastern Conference. The four best players at the end of the day qualified for the tournament playoffs, with a chance to win additional points and $5,000 in prize money.
I did not have a bad day, far from it: only two losses, six wins, but the three draws in the end cost me a place in the top four. My 21 points put me on level terms with FCC Fiddle, FC Cincinnati’s player, but since he beat me in our head-to-head game, he held the tiebreaker and took the fourth spot.
Even if I’m disappointed that my day finished too early, in the grand scheme of things, I am right in it. This year, the top five players in the table in each Conference qualify directly for eMLS Cup, while the rest will have to fight it out for the sixth and last qualifying spot.
A busy, exciting day
The tournament started well with a win against New York Red Bulls’ Mike LaBelle. I scored three goals to gain some confidence and added three points in the standings right off the bat, which put me in the mood. My next opponent was FIFA Abe, from Orlando City SC. I kept much more than the majority of the ball in the game and created good opportunities, but I could not score; him neither, as a matter of fact, so I took one more point. The third game of the day was against doolsta, a very good player sporting the Philadelphia Union’s colours. It was very tight until the last 10 minutes, when I got clear with two goals. That was a big win and I had seven points on the board after three games, an excellent start.
Then came a rivalry game against Toronto FC and PhilB94. I beat him last year in the eMLS Cup Conference semifinals, but this time, he got the better of me, 2-0. I bounced back right away against RatedHugo from Atlanta United, scoring three goals before the 60-minute mark, and he came back in the game, pulling back within one with six minutes to go. I held on until the end to put three more points in the bank.
The following two games probably were the ones that cost me a place in the eMLS League Series One playoffs. Against Chicago Fire’s BITW18 II, I got a quick 2-0 lead, before being caught and drawing the game, while I should have won; then, against CrewSC Nenad, I dominated the second half and got many shots, without converting them into goals. That was another tie that would hurt my chances of going through.
I absolutely needed a win in the next game against D.C. United and Renatogz05 if I hoped to finish in the top four. The pressure did not get to me and I scored four goals, on route to a convincing 4-1 victory. But everything collapsed against FCC Fiddle. When nothing works, it’s very frustrating, and it’s what happened in this 6-0 loss.
I still finished the tournament with two wins, the first one against the New England Revolution and JKO1707, thanks to a very late goal in second half added time, and the second against an old rival, New York City FC’s NYC_Chris.
I know where I need to get better and the upcoming month of training and preparation will go a long way towards eMLS League Series Two, in Dallas on February 17. We’ll talk about it soon, anyway, and don’t hesitate to drop in on any of my streams on Twitch, where I broadcast my FUT Champions Weekend League games.
